STUDENTS are “outraged” they will not be receiving compensation for strikes.

Many who attend the University of Sussex were hoping to receive money after a series of strikes.

The university in Falmer had previously issued payments to students after strike action took place in 2019.

However, bosses have decided compensation will not be granted this time around as it continues to battle the economic costs of Covid-19.

One final year student, who did not want to be named said: “Outraged doesn’t cover it.

“While the pandemic has been entirely out of their control, and we understand that they have done the best they can to provide us which an education during the lockdown period, the lack of compensation for the strike period has left many infuriated.”

One round of strikes were in November and December 2019.

For those, the university offered students up to £100 if they suffered “distress and inconvenience”.

Sussex University was the first institution in the country to give compensation to students in the middle of industrial action under an “industrial action ex gratia scheme”.

University staff downed tools again to begin a 14-day strike for pay and conditions on February 20.

Students had been expecting to receive a similar payment for these strikes.

However, students were told in an email this scheme would not be available due to the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.

A University of Sussex spokesman said: “I can confirm that the university did email students earlier this week to let them know that, while Sussex was the only university to offer the ex-gratia scheme previously, due to all the unexpected costs incurred over the past few months to deal with the immediate impact of Covid-19 (amounting to more than £12 million), the university would not be able to go ahead with an ex gratia scheme at this time.

“We know that this has been and continues to be a difficult time for some students – and we do understand why they may be disappointed.

“We hope that the email we sent to our students helps to outline all the actions the university has taken and why it’s not possible to run the scheme this time, due to the major events of the past few months.”

The spokesman added that the university had not estimated what the cost of a scheme might have been due to the fact that “the number of students applying and the level of awards offered could have proved to be significantly varied".